Learning outcomes

After studying this course, you should be able to:

  • explore recent debates around the interpretation of seventeenth-century Dutch painting
  • consider the strengths and limitations of iconology as an art-historical approach
  • examine the notion of ‘realism’ as applied to works of art
  • address the relevance of social and cultural context for interpreting works of art
  • analyse works of art in terms of different ideas and approaches.